He lauded the contributions of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu to the victory of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) at the presidential elections in 2015 and 2019.
He said: “To win the next election, the APC must apply the principle of zoning, though not clearly stated in the APC constitution. We believe by 2023, after the North has produced the President for eight years, the South should have a go at it.
“Tinubu was a colossus of South-West politics. If he had said there would be no merger, there wouldn’t have been any APC merger.
” It became very clear that Buhari was going to win the APC first primary election once Tinubu declared publicly his support for him and accepted that the South-West would vote for Buhari. Between Wednesday and Thursday (before the convention), it was clear Tinubu and Bisi Akande were going to support Buhari and the North-West had no choice but to support Buhari, otherwise they were going to lose out. ”
Lawal added: “So, if Tinubu had not conceded at that point, I think probably Kwakwanso would have won the presidential nomination of the APC. For that reason alone, you can see Tinubu’s contributions to the emergence of Buhari as President and his role in building the party. Everybody knows Buhari had no money and he doesn’t play money politics.
“Also, Buharists didn’t have money … And politics requires money.
“Tinubu, who had his tentacles spread across the corporate world, was the only man who knew where and how to raise the funds needed. He was the one that reached out to all the ‘big men’ who were at the time scared of the then President Goodluck Jonathan…
“But somehow, Tinubu was able to persuade some of them to support Buhari. Leading to the elections in 2015, we had so many experiences, Timipre Sylva (now Minister of State for Petroleum Resources) and I thought we could do it but found out we couldn’t until Tinubu came in and we won the election.
“It was Tinubu who brought in consultants from the US – the firm behind the successful execution of President Barack Obama’s campaign. It helped to repackage Buhari.
“Rallies don’t win elections. It is the underground work that wins elections. Almost the same thing repeated itself in 2019. Tinubu doesn’t like to take credit for what he does .”
“The monies he spent out of his pocket that are unaccounted for outside of the party’s campaign finances, are quite enormous. I know this because he’s my friend and because I am also involved in the Buhari government.
“So, when there is a crisis, I am the one whose duty is to run to the South-West for help. Except we want to bring the wrath of God on our heads, which we don’t want, the party must create an environment that is free and fair for anybody who wants to contest, including Tinubu, to do so.”
